Community memorial
In the parish of Killoe, a Titanic memorial garden was created by the community to mark the centenary. Called the James Farrell Titanic Memorial, it is dedicated to the memory of James Farrell, Katie Mullen and Katie Gilnagh. James Farrell, tragically lost his life on Titanic, but not before saving the lives of his friends Katie Mullen and Katie Gilnagh.
The memorial was officially opened in the village of Ennybegs on the 15th April 2012. In attendance were the relatives of the Longford passengers, including the nephew and family of James Farrell who visited from Miami, Florida with his family for the occasion. A civic reception was held by Longford County Council to honour the families of the passengers.
Exhibition
In recognition of the impact of the tragedy on the county an exhibition in was held to raise awareness of the local connection to the Titanic story, with the support of the Heritage Council. The core of the programme was the Longford & the Titanic 1912 – 2012 Exhibition. This was launched on the 13th April 2012 with panels featuring:
- a timeline of events; an overview of the construction and features of the ship as well as on the sinking and demographic information on all of the passengers;
- a biography of all of the Longford passengers;
- the wider reaction to the disaster in particular the efforts of MP JP Farrell whose paper the “Longford Leader” carried stories of ill-treatment of 3rd Class passengers by Thomas McCormack in particular and whose efforts ensured representation – albeit limited – of these passengers in the official British inquiry.
- Additional documents such as reproductions of the passenger and crew lists, 1911 Census returns and the survivor list from the Carpathia were also included.
- A booklet of the exhibition was also produced.
Click on the links below to read our Longford & the Titanic Exhibition panels:
Longford & the Titanic 01-GeneralInfo
Longford & the Titanic 02-Timeline
Longford & the Titanic 03-LongfordDead
Longford & the Titanic 04-LongfordSurvivors
Longford & the Titanic 05-Reaction
Longford & the Titanic 06-Ship (8MB file size)
Schools Education Pack
All primary and secondary schools in the county were provided with a Schools Education Pack, with information on aspects of the Titanic’s construction, the demographics of those on board, ephemera, resources and teachers packs. Expanded copies, including plans of the ship, were provided to each library in the county and digital copies provided on the Longford Library website. A creative writing competition for schools was also run garnering 400 entries.
Click here to download the Schools Education Pack (5MB file size)
(Please note that All Rights are Reserved. Original content, including imagery, illustrations, mapping etc. remains the copyright of the creator and/or copyright holder, and should not be used without their knowledge or permission.)
Other events
The Longford Historical Society hosted a lecture on the subject by Fr. Tom Murray. A movie night showing A Night to Remember, based on Walter Lord's book, was also held with many audience members dressed in period costume.